Australian Pork Newspaper

Vol 25. No. 4 April 2021 Australian Pork Newspaper PO Box 162 Wynnum 4178 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Email ben@collins.media
New website for animal industries antimicrobial stewardship
The must have conversation
Point of View
by MARGO ANDRAE CEO
most senior positions.
In addition to these in- sights, we had 90 pro- ducers and others repre- senting the supply chain join us for the virtually run Women in Pork event, and 60 percent of these women agreed the biggest challenge they face is feeling ac- cepted and being taken seriously in a tradition- ally male-dominated
AS outlined in the Aus- tralian Pork Limited 2020-2025 strategic plan, we have set sev- eral bold and audacious goals moving forward.
cluding APL’s delegates forum
The pork industry is progressive in its actions and will continue to be within our culture, our values and our ideals, as much as our activity.
• Continuing visibility of woman in pork across the supply chain on all APL’s communications channel
At the very heart of our industry are our people, and it is the people who work within our sector that allow us to progress, to innovate and to thrive.
• Support MBW and territory partner AMIC to create more inclusive networking opportuni- ties, providing a plat- form for women in the industry to connect.
This, coupled with my own personal interest, saw APL facilitate our very first Women in Pork event around In- ternational Women’s Day – to open the door on conversations that producers and the total meat sector needs to be having.
tially raising awareness of the report findings followed by identifying initiatives through which we can begin to create meaningful impact.
Continuing the theme of attracting and re- taining the best possible talent for our industry, particularly as we are facing a critical labour shortage, APL’s policy team will continue to highlight to govern- ment the significant role that temporary migrant workers play in sus- taining our businesses, local communities and the broader Australian economy.
Meat Business Women, a global professional networking group for women working in the meat industry, produced a first-of-its-kind report last year, which built a case for immediate action in addressing gender inequality in the sector by highlighting a few very sobering facts.
These are:
The research showed globally women are under-represented at every level, aside from junior positions.
• 30 percent identified mentoring the next gen- eration as a priority
• Putting diversity and inclusion on the agenda at key sector events, in-
industry.
We also asked the
• Reviewing the busi- ness’ maternity and pa- ternity policy, and con- tinue to foster a more flexible work environ- ment
To reiterate the earlier sentiment of this article, the very heart of our in- dustry is our people, and we will continue to fight the red tape that con- tinues to hamper our in- dustry’s growth in 2021.
group to select what they saw as the key priorities for women working in the sector:
• Registering at least four senior members to the Meat Business Women global men- toring program in 2021
• 45 percent deter- mined creating visibility of women in the industry was most important
I’ll expand on this work and APL’s posi- tioning in this space in upcoming issues of this publication.
Based on all the above, we have made five key commitments to help bolster female-driven careers in the pork and wider meat industry.
In fact, women hold only 14 percent of Board-level director roles and only 5 percent of chief executive roles.
• 10 percent said the industry needed more opportunities for diver- sity and inclusion.
The study also identi- fies ‘broken rungs’ in the career ladder that pre- vent women in the meat sector from advancing to more senior roles.
It felt inclusive, ener- getic and productive, and to be involved in a meat industry call with the faces of 90 women looking back at me, as opposed to the frequent notion of being the only women in the room, was incredibly refreshing and exciting.
It suggests women find it easier to pursue ca- reers in marketing, fi- nance, human resources, research and develop- ment, and quality fields.
My team are working to support MBW and the Australian territory partner AMIC by ini-
However, those dis- ciplines rarely act as stepping-stones into the
The event was some- thing I’m extremely proud to have been a part of.
THE animal industries research, development and extension strategy now has a home.
needs to be preserved so that treatments remain available for injured or ill people and animals.
Development and Exten- sion Strategy has been produced.
The launch of the new Animal Industries Anti- microbial Stewardship RD&E Strategy website represents five years of work on behalf of Aus- tralian livestock indus- tries, with the aim to understand and improve veterinary antimicrobial stewardship and share knowledge and ideas.
Historical Australian initiatives have resulted in very low levels of AMR bacteria from food animals, however, fur- ther progress is needed to ensure this situation remains and Australian industries are afforded relevant opportunities to capitalise on this status.
This strategy is fo- cussed on prioritising RD&E that enhances AMS activities, rather than a sole focus on reduction in AMR or AMU, which are already comparatively low inter- nationally.
In Australia, the animal industries are respon- sible for maintaining the health, welfare and pro- ductivity of the livestock in their care and ensuring safe food products for human consumption.
The Australian red meat, dairy, pork and poultry industries have formed strong links to share information, oppor- tunities and experiences related to progressing AMS in Australian an- imal industries.
The AIAS has been de- veloped primarily to meet the needs of Australia’s food animal industries but will also benefit the implementation of Aus- tralia’s National AMR Strategy 2 and the Aus- tralian Animal Sector National Antimicrobial Resistance Plan 3.
Access to antimicro- bials are an important part of maintaining this responsibility, however they must be used without detriment to human, an- imal or plant health.
They recently collabo- rated on the preparation of the Antimicrobial Stewardship in Australian Livestock Industries re- port and the establish- ment of the Australian Veterinary Antimicrobial Stewardship conference in November 2018.
The Australian Vet- erinary Association, the Australian Government Department of Agricul- ture, and AMR manage- ment experts were also consulted during the de- velopment of the strategy to ensure the AIAS fit within national and in- ternational AMR man- agement initiatives and linked to biosecurity initiatives that impact AMU.
Use of antimicrobials may result in the devel- opment of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, which subsequently reduces the efficacy of antimicro- bials to treat infection.
Since that conference, there has been discussion on how to better collabo- rate on AMS research, development and exten- sion activities of mutual interest and benefit.
Accordingly, the AIAS aims to create a collabo- rative mechanism for an- imal industries to iden- tify common RD&E pri-
The development of AMR is a threat to man- aging infections in ani- mals and humans, how- ever access to the current range of antimicrobials
To this end, the Animal Industry Antimicrobial Stewardship Research,
* continued P2
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